As Christmas passes once again, we turn our eyes towards the Christians who have lived in the Middle East for 2,000 years, woven into the very fabric of society. Yet, as Pope Benedict XVI has warned, churches in the Middle East "are threatened in their very existence". Christian communities have faced asphyxiation in Iraq, executions in Iran, decimation in Palestine, suffering and hardship in Egypt, and they share in the daily terrors in Syria.
During his visit to Lebanon earlier this year, Pope Benedict told Christians that they should "fear not because the universal Church walks at your side and is humanly and spiritually close to you".
This is a moment to reflect on whether, in reality, other Christians do walk with their persecuted coreligionists of the Middle East; whether they are - both humanly and spiritually - at the side of their brethren.
Reflecting on a different time of persecution, St Maximilian Kolbe - the Catholic saint who volunteered to die in the place of a stranger at the Auschwitz concentration camp - said: "The most deadly poison of our times is indifference."
We all risk indifference, captivated by the imagery of the New Testament - the babe in the swaddling clothes and the mother and her child - but ignoring those trapped by waves of intimidation and violence, whose faith is their only crime.
Throughout the past year, the crisis for Christians in the Middle East has deepened - and 2013 promises to be no better.
The region's largest Christian population is in Egypt - and during the Arab Spring, Christians joined with Muslim neighbours in the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tahrir Square. But they had barely taken their banners home before Salafist groups began to foment sectarian violence against the Copts.
The Egyptian Muslim novelist, Alaa Al Aswany, put it well when he said: "We can expect Islamists to use the democratic system merely as a ladder to power, which they will climb up and then kick away so that no one else can use it."
That is precisely what has happened and why passage of the new constitution in Egypt, which entrenched the Muslim Brotherhood, has seen moderate Muslims, secularists and Christians again in Tahrir Square, demonstrating this time against a new regime.
None of this bodes well for Egypt's Christians. In November, a blindfolded boy pulled one name from a list of three to select Egypt's new Coptic Pope, Bishop Tawadros, as the leader of the region's largest Christian minority. Pope Tawadros will be leading a church that is under systematic attack.
Little wonder that more than 100,000 Copts left Egypt in a recent nine-month period. They were coerced, according to Naguib Gabriel, director of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organisations, "by threats and intimidation of hard-line Salafists, and the lack of protection they are getting from the Egyptian regime".
Paradoxically, 2,000 years ago Mary and Jesus of Bethlehem found a refuge in Egypt after fleeing the violence and mass murder of children by Herod.
And what would they find in Bethlehem today? In 1947, the population was 85 per cent Christian, but is now as low as 15 per cent. There would be few Palestinian Christian families, as Christians now account for only about 50,000 who live in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
In nearby Lebanon, the Christian community has declined from 75 per cent to 32 per cent of the population. In Iraq, the cradle of ancient churches - and now the scene of their annihilation - hundreds of thousands have been part of an exodus of Biblical proportions. In the 1987 census, there were 1.4 million Christians in Iraq; today, there may be fewer than 150,000.
And what of Damascus? Many Iraqi Christians did, indeed, take the road west, fleeing to what they imagined to be the safety of Syria, only to find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. The charity Aid To The Church In Need has reported about one village where 12,000 people, many of whom are Christians, are trapped without bread and other basic necessities.
That charity recently brought Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo to Britain, where I met him in parliament. He told me about the effect of the civil war in Syria on his diocese of Aleppo, its ancient Christian community and relations between the faiths. Speaking about the suffering of Syrians, he called on the British government to do more to stand up for individuals' rights to choose their faith. Does anyone really believe that Syria's opposition will do this?
How a country treats minorities is a test of its claim to be civilised, and religious freedom has been described as the pinnacle of all other freedoms. Consider that, in the context of the depredations occurring in Syria and across the region.
Bishop Audo paints a dire picture of innocents caught in the crossfire: "Aleppo, the city I love so much and where I have been bishop (for) 20 years, is now devastated." Cultural collaboration and stability have been replaced by fear and anarchy.
Syria had long been regarded as an example of peaceful coexistence between Muslims, Christians and Druze. The Christian communities made up about 10 per cent of the population (about 2.6 million), one of the largest minorities in the country. Inevitably, as the violence escalated, many Christians chose to flee. Homs has lost an estimated 80,000 of its Christian inhabitants.
Bishop Audo understands why Christians are leaving Syria, but he is also certain that Christians in the region are a safeguard for Muslims who believe in tolerance and coexistence. Without Christians, the whole region will be poorer. He firmly believes that Arab Christians have a vital contribution to make to Syria and the whole Middle East. It's a pity that western leaders don't believe that too.
Lord David Alton is an independent member of Britain's House of Lords and a professor of citizenship at Liverpool John Moores University
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others
Lampedusa: Gateway to Europe
Pietro Bartolo and Lidia Tilotta
Quercus
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
The biog
Favourite book: You Are the Placebo – Making your mind matter, by Dr Joe Dispenza
Hobby: Running and watching Welsh rugby
Travel destination: Cyprus in the summer
Life goals: To be an aspirational and passionate University educator, enjoy life, be healthy and be the best dad possible.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Profile Box
Company/date started: 2015
Founder/CEO: Mohammed Toraif
Based: Manama, Bahrain
Sector: Sales, Technology, Conservation
Size: (employees/revenue) 4/ 5,000 downloads
Stage: 1 ($100,000)
Investors: Two first-round investors including, 500 Startups, Fawaz Al Gosaibi Holding (Saudi Arabia)
What is the Supreme Petroleum Council?
The Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council was established in 1988 and is the highest governing body in Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas industry. The council formulates, oversees and executes the emirate’s petroleum-related policies. It also approves the allocation of capital spending across state-owned Adnoc’s upstream, downstream and midstream operations and functions as the company’s board of directors. The SPC’s mandate is also required for auctioning oil and gas concessions in Abu Dhabi and for awarding blocks to international oil companies. The council is chaired by Sheikh Khalifa, the President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi while Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is the vice chairman.
SCORES
Yorkshire Vikings 144-1 in 12.5 overs
(Tom Kohler 72 not out, Harry Broook 42 not out)
bt Hobart Hurricanes 140-7 in 20 overs
(Caleb Jewell 38, Sean Willis 35, Karl Carver 2-29, Josh Shaw 2-39)
Tank warfare
Lt Gen Erik Petersen, deputy chief of programs, US Army, has argued it took a+“three decade holiday” on modernising tanks.
“There clearly remains a significant armoured heavy ground manoeuvre threat in this world and maintaining a world class armoured force is absolutely vital,” the general said in London last week.
“We are developing next generation capabilities to compete with and deter adversaries to prevent opportunism or miscalculation, and, if necessary, defeat any foe decisively.”
Itcan profile
Founders: Mansour Althani and Abdullah Althani
Based: Business Bay, with offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and India
Sector: Technology, digital marketing and e-commerce
Size: 70 employees
Revenue: On track to make Dh100 million in revenue this year since its 2015 launch
Funding: Self-funded to date
SPEC SHEET
Display: 10.9" Liquid Retina IPS, 2360 x 1640, 264ppi, wide colour, True Tone, Apple Pencil support
Chip: Apple M1, 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Memory: 64/256GB storage; 8GB RAM
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, Smart HDR
Video: 4K @ 25/25/30/60fps, full HD @ 25/30/60fps, slo-mo @ 120/240fps
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR, Centre Stage; full HD @ 25/30/60fps
Audio: Stereo speakers
Biometrics: Touch ID
I/O: USB-C, smart connector (for folio/keyboard)
Battery: Up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi; up to 9 hours on cellular
Finish: Space grey, starlight, pink, purple, blue
Price: Wi-Fi – Dh2,499 (64GB) / Dh3,099 (256GB); cellular – Dh3,099 (64GB) / Dh3,699 (256GB)
Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry
4/5
Sting & Shaggy
44/876
(Interscope)
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, last-16 second leg
Paris Saint-Germain (1) v Borussia Dortmund (2)
Kick-off: Midnight, Thursday, March 12
Stadium: Parc des Princes
Live: On beIN Sports HD
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The specs: Volvo XC40
Price: base / as tested: Dh185,000
Engine: 2.0-litre, turbocharged in-line four-cylinder
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 250hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 350Nm @ 1,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 10.4L / 100km
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Squads
India (for first three ODIs) Kohli (capt), Rohit, Rahul, Pandey, Jadhav, Rahane, Dhoni, Pandya, Axar, Kuldeep, Chahal, Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar, Umesh, Shami.
Australia Smith (capt), Warner, Agar, Cartwright, Coulter-Nile, Cummins, Faulkner, Finch, Head, Maxwell, Richardson, Stoinis, Wade, Zampa.
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
Cricket World Cup League Two
Teams
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Namibia beat Oman by 52 runs
UAE beat Namibia by eight wickets
Fixtures
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Oman
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
UK record temperature
38.7C (101.7F) set in Cambridge in 2019
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
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Company Profile
Name: Direct Debit System
Started: Sept 2017
Based: UAE with a subsidiary in the UK
Industry: FinTech
Funding: Undisclosed
Investors: Elaine Jones
Number of employees: 8
Most polluted cities in the Middle East
1. Baghdad, Iraq
2. Manama, Bahrain
3. Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
4. Kuwait City, Kuwait
5. Ras Al Khaimah, UAE
6. Ash Shihaniyah, Qatar
7. Abu Dhabi, UAE
8. Cairo, Egypt
9. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
10. Dubai, UAE
Source: 2022 World Air Quality Report
MOST POLLUTED COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD
1. Chad
2. Iraq
3. Pakistan
4. Bahrain
5. Bangladesh
6. Burkina Faso
7. Kuwait
8. India
9. Egypt
10. Tajikistan
Source: 2022 World Air Quality Report
Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Klipit
Started: 2022
Founders: Venkat Reddy, Mohammed Al Bulooki, Bilal Merchant, Asif Ahmed, Ovais Merchant
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Digital receipts, finance, blockchain
Funding: $4 million
Investors: Privately/self-funded
MATCH INFO
World Cup qualifier
Thailand 2 (Dangda 26', Panya 51')
UAE 1 (Mabkhout 45+2')
The biog
Born: near Sialkot, Pakistan, 1981
Profession: Driver
Family: wife, son (11), daughter (8)
Favourite drink: chai karak
Favourite place in Dubai: The neighbourhood of Khawaneej. “When I see the old houses over there, near the date palms, I can be reminded of my old times. If I don’t go down I cannot recall my old times.”
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
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SERIE A FIXTURES
Friday Sassuolo v Torino (Kick-off 10.45pm UAE)
Saturday Atalanta v Sampdoria (5pm),
Genoa v Inter Milan (8pm),
Lazio v Bologna (10.45pm)
Sunday Cagliari v Crotone (3.30pm)
Benevento v Napoli (6pm)
Parma v Spezia (6pm)
Fiorentina v Udinese (9pm)
Juventus v Hellas Verona (11.45pm)
Monday AC Milan v AS Roma (11.45pm)